Walter Lantz produced and directed several Memorable cartoons, he was always a persevering man who continued to work and do what he liked even if he was not in good times, after a couple of shorts of an Andy Panda Character, Lantz included a new character in which he inspired after a woodpecker made holes in the roof of a cabin where he spent his honeymoon, his wife reassured him and encouraged him to create a caricature of it, Lantz also thought of shooting the bird!, but he just chased him away and he himself made a sound similar to a laugh, and from there Woody's iconic laugh was born! Which, Some Characters and Ideas arose after some situation that happened to the Creator, Walt Disney created Mickey Mouse in revenge against Universal for Stealing the Rights of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit!, but let's ignore that and focus on Universal.
Lantz had already worked at Universal with Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, but after Oswald the Lucky Rabbit lost popularity, he decided to look for new ideas and characters, among them the one that stood out the most was Andy Panda, who had several short films until "Knock Knock" arrived in 1940. In which as I said was the first appearance of Woody, Woody achieved popularity in the public and although critics treated the character badly for his ugly design and strange personality, Lantz did not listen to criticism and continued making Woody Woodpecker shorts.
To be the first appearance of our favorite woodpecker is not bad at all, although the protagonist is Andy Panda and his father, Woody steals the show, we see him for the first time playing a trick on the father thinking that they were knocking on the door so that Finally Andy told him that Woody was actually hitting the ceiling, after saying his Iconic Phrase "Guess Who" Andy Panda and his Father decide to kill Woody!.
The Animation in this short was very good, I liked the backgrounds, they look quite detailed and although the character design, especially Woody's, looks bizarre, they are quite decent and have fluid movements that favor visual pleasure.
Frank Marsales offers good music and this was the last job he had with Lantz, the music has some rhythm to it and although it is not as energetic as Carl Stalling's music or as fun as Scott Bradley's, it is a decent effort as it is nice to listen to and syncs up nicely with the animation.
The Incredible Mel Blanc did the Voice of Woody in his First 4 Shorts, this veteran of Voice acting discovered a voice of his in High School and after practicing it for a while he unknowingly created Woody's Iconic Voice and Laughter! Of course, the Other characters have good voices but no one beats the Great Mel Blanc!.
Without knowing it, Walter Lantz created the Universal Animated Star, although it was not well received at the beginning, it currently has the recognition it deserves and has amused and entertained us all, the Animation is Good as well as the Music, the Cartoon has Good rhythm and it favors some gags that are out there that are quite funny and show that Woody was already Crazy from the start!.
In itself, Knock Knock is not the best of Woody but it was a great First appearance that he shared with Andy Panda, I liked the Animation and the Gags, it was fun to see how The Pandas failed in their Mission and Woody Ended up victorious, although somewhat petty, Woody is a great character here, I liked how he humiliated Andy's father, the Pandas are also fun but nothing that beats the Great Woody!.
For everything I said above, Knock Knock gets an 8.
